It’s Protest Season !
It’s an annual rite, the passage of the seasons. Winter to Spring and then on to summer… there’s just something about summer that brings out civil unrest. It must be the heat. Or is it the stupidity? Who knows the answer, but wow, that escalated quickly. L.A has been wild this past week. Keep disappearing people and we take to the streets. Angelenos like their civil disobedience. They are much like the citizens of Oakland in that respect. We stand up for our own.
Anybody old enough to remember the Occupy Oakland movement back in 2012? It sprung out of Occupy Wall Street and I would argue that it was way more effective. Looking back, that was fun. Nothing violent, just some good old fashioned sign painting, street marching and vandalism against banks and corporate masters. Then came the George Floyd protests of 2020. Man, Oakland was lit. We were out painting in the streets daily. During the day, it was a giant street party with DJ’s, Food Vendros and Artists. What “lockdown”? Once night fell, it became a little hairy at times. OPD tended to just let the protestors go wild at night and then the community came out to clean up the mess the following day. None of this even compares to the madness of the Gilet Jaune protests in Paris. That was something else. Marching bands accompanied by bonfires in the streets, explosions, cars burning, smash and grabs, and so on. The French just know how to protest. It’s in their DNA. Remember, they beheaded a king before, they know what they are doing. Back to the States, what is this go round of Anti-ICE / DHS protesting going to bring? We’re already seeing how it is playing out down south and I know the Bay Area has L.A’s back in all this.
I’m not a big street protester, I prefer to let my art skills add to the movement. A wise friend once told me “the role of the artist is to make the message visible for the people.” For Occupy Oakland I was tasked with painting some of the major vehicles of the movement in addition to making signs for protesters. In 2020 I spent many days on the streets of downtown Oakland painting the boarded up businesses and creating a colorful backdrop for the protests. The community loved our artwork and were grateful that we artists were out there leveling up the streets, turning a negative into a positive. I’m looking forward to adding some of my artwork to this new round of protests.
During the George Floyd protests I created this protest themed artwork which was later released as a fine art print with Duggal Gallery in New York. Full on protest vibes is how I describe this piece. 1312, ACAB whatever you prefer to call it. It features a bold owl standing against an NYPD backdrop, complete with ACAB graffiti and some bullet holes for the desired effect. It’s a 16” x 16” print on 300gsm fine art paper. Nothing but the finest! There are a few prints available from Duggal, but if they sell out you can shoot me an email, since I have a few AP’s in my archives.
Happy June 14th.
No Kings!
No Kings!
No Kings!